Rich countries meet only 4% of funds East Africa needs to address climate change - Oxfam

• Over 63 million East Africans experienced severe hunger in 2024 and 40% lack access to safe drinking water.
• East African countries collectively contribute a tiny 0.09% of the global carbon emissions but are some of the worst-hit by the global climate crisis.
• Appeals for humanitarian assistance doubled from $3.1 billion to $6.1 billion during the 2021 and 2023 hunger crisis, yet funding consistently fell short, with less than half of the requested resources delivered in most years. 

Rich countries have broken their climate finance promises to a key grouping of eight highly vulnerable African countries. 

Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan and Uganda – collectively called the IGAD region – have together received, on average, $1.7 billion annually, between 2013 to 2022, in “grant equivalents”, being the true value of climate support after interest and debt repayments. 

According to a new report today by Oxfam and IGAD ahead of the Second African Climate Summit (ACS2) in Addis-Ababa, Ethiopia, this is a massive 96% less than the $41.8 billion that IGAD countries say they need annually to implement their national climate action plans until 2030. The amount is also 25% less than the $2.3 billion annually reported by rich countries which includes grants and loans. The loans are worsening the debt crisis which reduce the capacity of countries to cope with climate change impacts.

‘‘Rich polluting nations set the planet on fire, then sit back and send water droppers to the Majority World Countries to put it out. They must take responsibility for the damage they are causing and adequately fund climate action in countries where climate change is wreaking havoc on communities that are least responsible for the crisis,’’ said Oxfam in Africa Director Fati N’Zi-Hassane. 

East African countries are among the worst-hit by the climate crisis, despite contributing a tiny 0.09% of the global carbon emissions. Over 63.3 million people in seven of the eight countries in the region faced high levels of acute food insecurity in 2024 and 126.7 million people, or 40% of the population, in the IGAD region lack access to safe drinking water. Appeals for humanitarian assistance doubled from $3.1 billion to $6.1 billion during the 2021 and 2023 hunger crisis, yet funding consistently fell short, with less than half of the requested resources delivered in most years. 

"We walk up to seven kilometres to access water from shallow wells, sometimes with children on our backs. We draw water from the same spots where wild and domestic animals also drink from, and it is dirty and rarely sufficient for us. Diarrhoea and other waterborne diseases are rampant here," said Joyce Achap from Lokitoeang'aber in Turkana County, Kenya. 

Despite climate change significantly contributing to the hunger crisis and water scarcity, only 29% ($6.7 billion) of the climate-related development finance received by the region was committed to agriculture, water and sanitation, and just 54% ($12.5 billion) was set aside to support communities adapt to climate change. 

Women, who bear the heaviest burdens of climate change due to gender inequalities in resources, roles, and decision-making, do not have their specific needs considered in a substantial share (41%) of funds that go to the region. 

The climate finance mechanism has also failed to address the specific realities of countries in fragility or conflict-affected contexts. The climate funds sent to Eritrea and Somalia, two countries which have had such conditions in the period of reporting, covers only 1% and 2% of their needs, respectively.

Other constraints related to donor funding for climate action in the region include complex application procedures and rigid requirements that restrict local actors and communities from accessing these funds. More than eight in ten dollars sent to the region are received by governments and large institutions, sidelining local actors such as Non-Governmental Organizations and local private actors, thereby undermining efforts to decentralize climate action. 

‘‘Rich, polluting nations have an obligation to provide sufficient climate finance to Majority World Countries as per the international agreements they signed. With adequate funds that respond to the specific needs of women and local communities, Africans can realize climate-resilient food systems, provide safe water to millions and have a better chance of bouncing back whenever climate disasters strike,’’ said N’Zi-Hassane. 

/ENDS